A nod to 3-2 OT win over Wild, then a look at how the Sharks and Kings have gone in opposite directions since that hit on Hertl

SAN JOSE – A quick mention of Saturday night’s 3-2 overtime win over the Minnesota Wild, and then we can move on to one of the two most anticipated game before the Olympic break.

Suffice to say anytime the Sharks can avoid going to a shootout, the beat guy is happy strictly because of deadline issues. And when every Sharks goal comes from the two guys who signed those three-year contract extensions just 24 hours earlier, you don’t have to waste a lot of time figuring out the story line.

Anyway, if you haven’t read it yet, you’ll find the game story addressing all that here . Thank you, Mr. Thornton and Mr. Marleau.

Now, looking down the road to Monday night . . . .

The Los Angeles Kings are in town for the first game between the teams since Dustin Brown’s hit that tore up Tomas Hertl’s knee. This in-state rivalry was already pretty heated before that and the damage from that play can only intensify things.

Strangely, as the story I’ve already written points out, it’s the Kings, not the Sharks, who have gone sliding down the standings since that Dec. 19 game. Despite losing Hertl and later Couture (whose hand injury, we are told, occurred in the same game as Hertl’s), the Sharks have gone 13-4 while the Kings are 5-10-2 since that night. Trailing Los Angeles by four points, San Jose now finds itself 10 points ahead of the Kings.

That’s covered in the print editions story for Monday and you can read an online version here .

It was an optional skate Sunday morning, but we did manage to talk with three players – Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Tommy Wingels and Matt Irwin – as well as Todd McLellan about how the team has responded to its injuries and maybe what to expect Monday night.

Nobody, of course, was vowing physical vengeance. This is the post-modern NHL. It’s all about the two points and earning those, the Sharks say, will be the best payback. But, as Tommy Wingels noted, the Sharks and Kings always play each other tough. That isn’t likely to change.

There were some eyebrows arched when the Sharks didn’t do more in response to the Hertl hit the night it happened. Dustin Brown wasn’t around, of course, having been given a game misconduct. But still . . .

The standard response is that the Sharks want to make the other team pay on the power plays that follow a nasty nit, not pound the bejeebers out of the guy. That worked in St. Louis after Dan Boyle was hurt and San Jose got two quick power-play goals en route to a win; that didn’t work in Los Angeles when Hertl went down.

So should the Sharks have gotten more physically involved that night?

“Agree and disagree,” said Wingels, who had a career-high 11 hits that night. “There is different ways of sticking up for your teammates. We’ve always said here, one way of doing that is capitalizing on the power play that ensues. That affects their team. They don’t want to take liberties if they’re going to get scored on.

“That being said, this team is capable of sticking up for each other, and has shown that, I think,” he continued. “Can you do it immediately? In that situation, he’s kicked out of the game. It’s tough to really have something happen there. Yeah, you can go take a run at one of their skilled guys, but you’ve got to be smart about it. Be within the rules. If something happens, it does, but we’re really focused on winning the game and continuing our streak of getting points here.”

Marc-Edouard Vlasic had an interesting way of describing the relationship between the Sharks and Kings.

“We’ve played them in the playoffs last year, and I thought the two teams hated each other, with respect,” Vlasic said. “Don’t like playing each other, but those games create rivalry and create a great game. It should be the same tomorrow.”

Matt Irwin talked about the ability of the team to keep winning even without two of its top six forward, Hertl and Logan Couture, who has said his hand injury occurred in the Los Angeles game, too, though he tried to play through it for nearly three weeks.

“Obviously it’s devastating to lose Hertl and then shortly after that lose Cooch. Those are big parts of our team,” Irwin said. “To come together and continue to find ways to win games, that’s our job. We’ve got to do that regardless of who’s in the lineup.”

So are players consciously thinking each night of what they’re doing without the likes of Couture and Hertl?

“You don’t really. You just worry about who’s in the lineup on any given night,” Irwin said. “Everyone’s got to step in and contribute and we’ve been able to do that.”

Finally, McLellan is hoping the back-and-forth nature of the series between the Sharks and Kings holds true for one more game. The home team has won each of the last 15 regular season and playoff meetings. And, he didn’t want anyone to think that the two points might not be as important as usual because of the gap in the standings at the moment.

“The most important thing are the points,” McLellan said. “When you look at it now heading in, there’s a 10-point gap that could be 12 or eight. Twelve is a big gap, eight’s not a very big one so that’ll be our goal and that’s what we’re focused on.”

****If you’re a regular reader of the comment section (not a requirement, of course), you may have discovered that someone has taken a deeper statistical look at the Kings’ performance since Hertl was injured and calls the connection between the two, #TOMASCURSL. You can find that effort here :

****There was no update on the likelihood of Hertl being back in the lineup before the end of the season. He isn’t skating yet, but is taking part in limited exercises as part of the rehab work on his knee.

I’ve asked Raffi Torres and Adam Burish over the last few days if they know yet whether they’ll be playing before the Olympic break and both said that hasn’t been determined yet.

****The Sharks did send Taylor Doherty back to Worcester and they are not bringing anyone else up. That tells me Scott Hannan has been given the green light to play and when I ran my logic past him he praised me for my ability to scope out the situation.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

The SF Bulls have shut down. The league allotted them an extension to find a new owner, but they couldn’t work it all out in time, so they have stopped operations, and cancelled the rest of their games effective immediatly.

Phat Stat Phil

So, correct me if I’m wrong, but won’t this be potential game #16 in the streak of “the home team” wins between LA & San Jose?

sharksfan

GP – The Bulls couldn’t work all of the details out with the potential new owner in time. The league gave them an extension to work it out, but came up short.

GP_hockeyhappens

thanks.

Phat Stat Phil

Nothing on the website or their twitter feed yet.

Considering that they announced the extension on the 23rd, it would seem premature for them to make that call.

sharksfan

Yea, I expected a longer extension time also, but I got the email just about 15 monutes ago from Gary Virginia from Change.org (I signed the petition to keep the Bulls in SF).
To the SF Bulls Ticket Holders,
We regret to inform you that the SF Bulls are ceasing operations, effective immediately. The team was hoping to secure new ownership, however the terms of an updated deal were unable to be finalized, cancelling the remainder of the season.
We want to thank all of our loyal season ticket and mini plan holders over the last two seasons. It’s been such a memorable time here with you in San Francisco, and we’ve especially appreciated all of your positive feedback over the past week. Thank you to those who went above and beyond to make us feel welcomed in the Bay Area, especially the members of the Matadors and Stampede. The entire organization is grateful.
We had a great opportunity come to us that would’ve kept the Bulls in San Francisco at least through the end of the 2014 season, with potential for future seasons, but we ran out of time to complete all ends of the deal. At this point, the best thing to do financially is to reluctantly end the season. We will miss playing here, miss our fans, and miss this city.
Bringing hockey to San Francisco was a dream; we have great talent on our team, and had a great vision for what the team could be. Things didn’t pan out the way we had hoped. It’s sad, and disconcerting, but we’re unfortunately left with no other choice at this point.
For fans that have already purchased tickets to upcoming games, the Bulls Office will take requests for refunds up until February 28. Season ticket holders and single game ticket holders can contact their ticket reps for more information at admin@sfbulls.com.

SactoShark

Marco Sturm retired today.

What’s the over/under of someone on here suggesting he rejoins the Sharks?

Phat Stat Phil

Yep. Too bad. But I guess this isn’t the first time people have put something cool together for San Franciscans and they’re too lazy to get out for it. ; )

The Sharks went straight into the crapper when they traded him for … what’s his name?

But seriously, a lot of us (namely yours truly) tend to forget Sturm was an all-star before his knee injury. Too bad.

Tom (fm Quinzee)

I think that’s a bit of conjecture there, Zeke, about loving to play in front of Stalock. Maybe you don’t mean to say this, but that also implies something about Nemo, i.e., they don’t love playing in front of him? One thing I notice is the team pays more attention to details like making sure Stalock can see the puck, forwards are a bit deeper into the d-zone on the back-check. Little things they don’t do w/ Nemo. And I don’t want to take anything away from Stalock. It’s good to have depth, especially w/ Nemo having one more season on his contract.

Phat Stat Phil

It looks to me that the ECHL has never had a situation like this before. Every other franchise ceased or suspended operations after the end of the season.

It’s a nuance, but I think there’s a difference between there not being a rule book and the rule book existing and being irrelevant. Sort of like Shanny & head shots. There’s a policy, but it’s whatever Shanny decides, depending on his own post-concussion syndrome.

J B

The Fresno Falcons ceased operations three days before Christmas in 2008. Not much warning at all. Also in the ECHL, oddly enough (Fresno isn’t east of much).

Tom (fm Quinzee)

I had to look up the Augusta Lynx – to see if they played in Maine or Georgia. O-o-o-o-w, I feel good!!! They played in the James Brown Arena. They feel good? Not.

J B

Came up with the Sharks and retired with the Sharks (Cologne Sharks of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga).

Phat Stat Phil

From the last year of the Augusta Lynx:
Aaron Slattengren moved to the Portland Pirates (AHL)
Chris Lawrence went to the Orlando Solar Bears (ECHL)
Scott Thauwald went to the Utah Grizzlies (ECHL)
Patrick Bordeleau went to the Albany River Rats (AHL) and the Florida Everblades (ECHL)
Brian Ihnacak went to the Elmira Jackals (ECHL)
Chase Nelson went to the Wheeling Nailers (ECHL)
Michael Mullen went to the Tulsa Oilers (CHL)
Justin Keller went to the Norfolk Admirals (AHL)
Travis Fuller went to the Gwinnett Gladiators (ECHL)
Jason Bloomingburg seems to be the only one who called it a career. He was on the IR and only played one game for the Lynx. I guess he never made it back.

Joel Hanson went to the Wichita Thunder (CHL)
Dallas Steward went to the Mississippi Riverkings (CHL)
Matt Auffrey went to the Florida Everblades (ECHL)
B.J. Crum went to the Alaska Aces (ECHL)
Kevin Quick went to the Elmira Jackals (ECHL), Norfolk Admirals (AHL), AND the Tampa Bay Lightning. Wow.
Brock Wilson went to the Dayton Bombers (ECHL)
Tim Branham went to the Reading Royals (ECHL) and the Worcester Sharks.
R.J. Linder went to the Tulsa Oilers (CHL)
Brent Henley went to the Mississippi Sea Wolves (ECHL)
Mike Brodeur didn’t play again that year, but played for the Ottawa Senators the next year.
Riku Helenius went to the Mississippi Sea Wolves (ECHL)

Phat Stat Phil

Yeah, the “E” part of “ECHL” and the “C” in CHL are pretty stretched terms.

Come to think of it, the N in NHL is kinda the same way since it’s international.

And the KHL is across Europe and Asia, so it’s not just on the Kontinent…

Geography, I guess, doesn’t have a lot to do with hockey. 8)

Phat Stat Phil

My research on Wikipedia suggests that Fresno is the only other team that folded mid-season.